Leeuwenhoek Begins Correspondence with Royal Society

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Delft draper and self-taught lens grinder, begins regular correspondence with the Royal Society of London after physician Regnier de Graaf introduces him to Secretary Henry Oldenburg on April 28. Leeuwenhoek's letters, written in Dutch and translated for the Philosophical Transactions, describe microscopic observations of mold, bee stings, and lice. This correspondence continues for fifty years, totaling 190 letters, and later includes his observations of bacteria, protozoa, spermatozoa, and red blood cells.